The introduction of the Kodak Brownie camera in 1900 is often cited as the start of popular photography. Almost immediately, amateur photographers began to use the devices to memorialize the activities of their friends and families. The subsequent popularization of movie cameras, video cassette recording (“VCR”) cameras, and today's digital video cameras have greatly enhanced the amateur camera operator's ability to memorialize people and events.
Despite these improvements in recording technology, one problem still faced by today's amateur photographer is that, when filming an event such as a school concert or a sporting event, the amateur camera operator is hindered by having only one recording device. Thus, for example, by zooming in on one area to show the events in more detail, the amateur camera operator may miss important context that they would only capture using a wide angle shot. Similarly, the amateur photographer's view of some significant events may be sub-optimal due to their location, or in extreme cases, may even be blocked by a tree, column, or another spectator's head. Further, a photographer may not anticipate an event and may have their camera powered-off at the moment of the event. These problems are magnified at unscripted events, such as sporting events, where many memorable events are unpredictable.
Professional filming crews solve these issues using multiple cameras and camera operators, each strategically placed, together with a director who selects which to record using a mixing board. The director may also be able to communicate with each of the camera operators so that they can work cooperatively and reposition themselves for optimal views. Although this approach produces a high quality results, the cost is beyond the reach of most amateurs.
Without a way to for the amateur camera operator to get the advantages of multiple recording devices, the promise of personal video cameras may never be fully achieved.